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We are surrounded by sound, all day long. We hear the traffic, the notifications, the chatter. We hear the words people say. But how often do we truly listen?
It’s so easy to go through our days in a state of passivity and reactivity, waiting for our turn to speak, our minds busy formulating a reply.
But real listening – the kind that forms the bedrock of love, respect, and connection – is something else entirely. It’s the conscious choice to quiet our own inner monologue and make space for someone else’s truth to unfold.
It is a journey from the simple, physical act of hearing to the deep, soulful act of understanding.
When we learn to listen deeply to others, we offer them the gift of being seen. And when we learn to apply that same quiet attention to ourselves, we finally begin to hear our own inner voice.
Let us reflect on how to do it with the following quotes about listening, shall we?
Highlights
- The list below is curated to cover the various aspects of listening, from its role as the foundation of love and respect to its relationship with empathy, humility, and inner wisdom.
- These wise words from philosophers, spiritual teachers, and communication experts are meant to be an invitation to deeper connection, a tool for self-reflection, and a reminder of the transformative power that lies within such a seemingly simple act.
Short Quotes about Listening
The art of conversation lies in listening.
Malcolm Forbes
We focus so much on what we’ll say, and yet true dialogue is built on the space we give, not just the words we add.
If speaking is silver, then listening is gold.
Turkish Proverb
Speaking has its value, clearly. But the true treasure, the rarer and more precious commodity in human connection, is the willingness to silently, fully receive.
The word listen contains the same letters as the word silent.
Alfred Brendel
A beautiful coincidence that points to a profound truth. Genuine listening requires an inner stillness, a quieting of one’s own mind to make room for another.
Inspirational Quotes about Listening
It takes a great man to be a good listener.
Calvin Coolidge
True. It demands strength of character – patience, humility, and the self-control to set aside one’s own ego.
To listen well is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well.
John Marshall
We think impact comes from persuasion. Yet, offering someone the gift of being truly heard can shift perspectives and build bridges far more effectively.
Listening is being able to be changed by the other person.
Alan Alda
Are we “paying attention” just to gather data for counter-argument, or are we open to the possibility that the encounter might genuinely alter our perspective?
We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.
Zeno of Citium
A classic reminder of nature’s design. The ratio is literally built into us, a hint at the balance we should strive for in conversation.
Read more: 105 Stoic Quotes for a Virtuous & Fulfilling Existence
Famous quotes about listening
Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity.
Roy T. Bennett
A powerful trilogy for a well-lived life. Curiosity is the key that unlocks listening, turning it from a passive act into an active exploration.
Read more: 111 Integrity Quotes – Nurture Character & Inner Truth
Importance of Listening Quotes
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
Proverbs 12:15
Wisdom isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about recognizing that answers can come from anywhere, and having the humility to receive them.
Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.
Doug Larson
It’s a practice of delayed gratification. The ego wants to speak now, but only in the cumulative silence of all the times we chose to learn instead that true insights may be discovered.
Power of listening quotes
It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
One broadcasts, the other receives. Which one applies to you?
Not Listening Quotes
Everybody talks, nobody listens. Good listeners are as rare as white crows.
Helen Keller
Sadly, this is what is happening in today’s world. We all crave to be heard in a world full of noise, and yet how rare that gift is!
Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.
Stephen Covey
How many conversations are just two people waiting for their turn to speak, formulating their next point rather than absorbing the one being made?
You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.
M. Scott Peck
It’s time to debunk the myth of multitasking. Listening is a full-body, full-mind activity. It demands singular, undivided presence.
Usually when we hear or read something new, we just compare it to our own ideas. If it is the same, we accept it… If it is not, we say it is incorrect. In either case, we learn nothing.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Only by suspending our own judgment, paying attention to understand the new, not just to categorize it against the old – may we move closer to the truth.
Quotes about listening to others’ opinions
No one is as deaf as the man who will not listen.
Jewish Proverb
“Deafness” here is a choice. It’s the willed ignorance of closing oneself off to a truth, a plea, or a different perspective.
If we shield ourselves from all feedback, we stop growing.
Brené Brown
It may be comfortable to avoid knowing how our actions land on others, but the only result we can expect from such an act is stagnation. Vulnerable openness is key to personal improvement.
Read more: 63 Feedback Quotes – Turning Input Into Positive Growth
People unconsciously know when you are not listening to them. Then they say ‘No’ to you.
James Altucher
We communicate our presence (or lack of it) in a thousand tiny ways. Disinterest is palpable, and it breaks trust long before the “no” is ever spoken.
Good Listener Quotes
To be interesting, be interested.
Dale Carnegie
Such simple, brilliant advice. We strive so hard to be fascinating, when the real path to connection is to find others fascinating.
The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention.
Thich Nhat Hanh
In today’s world of constant distraction, attention is the scarcest resource. To give it fully is an act of profound generosity and love.
A good listener is not only popular everywhere but after a while, he knows something.
Wilson Mizner
More than just a passive act, listening is a rewarding two-fold skill. It earns you social currency immediately, and it simultaneously acts as an engine for continuous learning that pays off in knowledge and wisdom over time.
The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.
Peter Drucker
An unusually long pause before answering a question, or the sudden silence on a sensitive topic, is a major clue that one is withholding information or struggling with an emotion. To truly understand people, we need to be attentive to the feelings, the hesitations, the gaps between words.
Art of listening quotes
Listening is not understanding the words of the question asked, listening is understanding why the question was asked in the first place.
Simon Sinek
What is the underlying need, fear, or hope prompting the words? That is where the real conversation lies.
Mindful & Deep Listening Quotes
Listening is about being present, not just about being quiet.
Krista Tippett
How many times we pretend to be silent – while mentally writing a grocery list? Presence is an active, engaged energy; it’s a focused stillness that the other person is capable of detecting.
Mindful listening quotes
Deep listening is miraculous for both listener and speaker.
Sue Thoele
It is miraculous because it simultaneously empowers the latter to become clearer and more whole, while the former more compassionate and wiser. In the end, it’s a transaction that benefits the shared humanity between them.
Listening is an art that requires attention over talent, spirit over ego, others over self.
Dean Jackson
It’s not about what you are (talented), but what you choose to do (pay attention) and how you choose to be (humble and giving).
Deep meaning good listeners quotes
Deep listening is the kind of listening that helps us to keep compassion alive while the other speaks, which may be for half an hour or forty-five minutes.
Thich Nhat Hanh
At its core, listening is an act of love and mindfulness. It is capable of transforming communication from a transactional exchange of words into a practice of mutual care.
Can you listen without interpreting, without your prejudices interfering – listen as you may listen to the song of a bird?
Jiddu Krishnamurti
To simply receive the sound and the feeling, without the mind instantly labeling it “right,” “wrong,” “good,” or “bad.” That is pure perception.
Read more: 45 Inner Peace Quotes – Nourishing Wisdom for Tranquility & Harmony
Active Listening Quotes
Active listening is being humble and hunting and searching for the best idea possible.
Laurie Buchanan
If we can think of it that way, then we are one step closer to the truth!
Active listening is exceedingly rare in our lives. We think we listen, but very rarely do we listen with real understanding, true empathy. Yet listening, of this very special kind, is one of the most potent forces for change that I know.
Carl Rogers
True listening is an act of unconditional acceptance. It requires immense emotional energy and discipline, but it also holds the key to unlocking people’s own internal resources for growth and transformation.
Quotes about listening to understand
To listen there must be attention, and where there is resistance there is no attention.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
The urge to argue, correct, or defend – it creates an invisble wall that blocks all attention. As soon as that internal resistance is dropped, we will find ourselves transcended to a whole new world!
Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
What a perfect description! When you feel truly heard and understood, the mind is energized, alive with connection and new ideas.
Respect Listening Quotes
Men are respectable only as they respect.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Respect is not a status; it is a behavior. It is earned only by the very act of giving it. It is in giving that one receives.
One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.
Bryant H. McGill
It is the ultimate validation. It says, “You matter, and your perspective is worthy of my time and attention.”
Basically, there are three things that all good listeners do: They think before they speak; they listen with respect; and they’re always gauging their response by asking themselves, ‘Is it worth it?’
Marshall Goldsmith, ‘What got you here won’t get you there‘
Here we are introduced to a practical, powerful checklist in communication. That final question – “Is it worth it?” – is a brilliant filter against adding noise, prioritizing connection over commentary.
Positive good listener quotes
To say that a person feels listened to means a lot more than just their ideas get heard. It’s a sign of respect. It makes people feel valued.
Deborah Tannen
Exactly. Knowing that one is listened to is a powerful validation of one’s personhood. And from then, the seeds of lasting relationships are sown.
Listening Quotes for Work
Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.
Bernard Baruch
In a world obsessed with pitching, this is a vital counter-narrative. Success is built on understanding – markets, clients, and colleagues.
Listen first. Give your opponents a chance to talk. Let them finish. Do not resist, defend or debate.
Dale Carnegie
By letting the other side empty their cup, you not only get to know their position fully, but you also lower their defenses.
Quotes about listening instead of talking
If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk.
Robert Baden-Powell
Focus your energy on absorbing others’ ideas rather than simply broadcasting your own, and you will become richer in knowledge and power!
Read more: 50 Essential Emotional Intelligence Quotes for Success
Listening Quotes for Leaders
To be a good leader you have to be a great listener.
Richard Branson
You cannot lead people you do not understand. Listening is the primary tool for gathering the intelligence and cultivating the trust required for leadership.
Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.
Andy Stanley
That is a chilling, inevitable outcome. If contributions are ignored, people stop offering them. The leader is left in an echo chamber of their own making.
The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.
Woodrow Wilson
Not just “hear” the voices, but let them “ring” – to resonate, to be felt, to be a constant presence in the leader’s consciousness.
Quotes about Listening & Personal Influence
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; it is also what it takes, on occasion, to sit down and listen.
William Arthur Ward
Our tendency is to lionize those who speak up. But the courage to be silent, to be present, and to potentially be changed by what one hears is, in fact, a much rarer bravery.
Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery. If you want to influence someone, listen to what he says.
Joyce Brothers
Influence isn’t about molding someone into your image. It’s about being one with theirs. When people feel understood, they become open to connection.
Quotes on listening skills
Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.
John Crosby
The “ear” is co-equal with the “brain” and the “push.” Without the listening component, “mentoring” is just “lecturing.”
Read more: 35 Mentoring Quotes – Lessons Learned, Inspiration Shared
Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don’t believe is right.
Jane Goodall
To correct a wrong, you must first approach the wrongdoer with curiosity and compassion, not judgment. Empathy is the only way to dissolve the defensive barriers and open the door to future improvement.
Read more: 50 Facing Fears Quotes – Unleash the Power Within
Quotes about Listening & Learning
Nothing I say today will teach me anything. So if I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.
Larry King
Indeed. Wisdom is gained through absorption, not assertion.
When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.
Dalai Lama XIV
A clear-eyed choice here. Do you want the comfort of repeating your own knowledge, or the adventure of expanding it?
Listening quotes and sayings
You learn when you listen. You earn when you listen – not just money, but respect.
Harvey Mackay
A fantastic play on words that’s entirely true. Listening provides the learning for professional success and, simultaneously, cultivates the relationships that make that success meaningful.
When I can really hear someone, it puts me in touch with him; it enriches my life. It is through hearing people that I have learned all that I know about individuals, about personality, about interpersonal relationships.
Carl Rogers
This one carries a lot of weight – being spoken by a renowned psychologist. Listening is not a chore, but the primary way one learns about humanity and, in doing so, becomes more human himself.
Quotes about Listening, Empathy, & Compassion
The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.
Ralph G. Nichols
It’s that simple. Beneath our complex desires is the simple need to be known. Listening is the only tool that can fulfill that need.
When you listen to someone with empathy, you give them psychological air.
Stephen Covey
True. Empathetic listening is the breath of life for a soul in distress.
Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.
Alfred Adler
Empathy is not just “feeling for” someone. It is a total imaginative and emotional leap into their perspective.
Sometimes all a person wants is an empathetic ear; all he or she needs is to talk it out.
Roy T. Bennett
Most of us are so quick to offer solutions. However, the real gift is often just to provide a safe, non-judgmental space for the person to slowly compose themselves and come up with their own solution.
When someone really hears you without passing judgment on you, without trying to take responsibility for you, without trying to mold you, it feels damn good.
Carl Rogers
It’s the feeling of acceptance – the freedom to be exactly who you are in that moment.
Compassionate listening. You listen only for the purpose of relieving suffering in the other person.
Thich Nhat Hanh
This is listening as a spiritual practice. The intention is pure: not to gain, not to reply, not even to understand, but simply to be a vessel that helps alleviate another’s pain.
Read more: 145 Suffering Quotes – Finding Light in the Darkness
Quotes about Listening in Love & Relationships
The first duty of love is to listen.
Paul Tillich
Not to protect, or to provide, or to profess, but to listen. Love begins with the stillness of attention. How hard is that?
Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person they are almost indistinguishable.
David Augsburger
This explains why it hurts so much to be ignored by a loved one. The act of listening is the daily, tangible evidence of love itself.
If we love someone, we should train in being able to listen. By listening with calm and understanding, we can ease the suffering of another person.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Love isn’t just a feeling; it’s a practice and a skill. Training to listen – with patience and calm – is one of the most practical ways to cultivate that love.
Communicating means sharing, and sharing demands listening and acceptance. Listening is much more than simply hearing. Hearing is about receiving information, while listening is about communication, and calls for closeness. Listening allows us to get things right, and not simply to be passive onlookers, users or consumers. Listening also means being able to share questions and doubts, to journey side by side, to banish all claims to absolute power and to put our abilities and gifts at the service of the common good.
Jorge Bergoglio (Francis)
Not just a mere communication skill, listening is a moral and relational imperative essential for genuine community and service. It is an essential step toward building a just and loving society.
Read more: 84 Unconditional Love Quotes for Every Soul
Quotes about Listening to Yourself (Inner Voice)
Don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love, and in order to occupy and distract himself without love he gives way to passions and coarse pleasures, and sinks to bestiality in his vices, all from continual lying to other men and to himself.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
The seemingly trivial choice to lie to oneself is actually the most dangerous human act, as it poisons the soul and sets one on a deterministic path toward self-destruction and total isolation.
Read more: 155 Quotes About Identity & Self – Mirrors of the Soul
As I try to listen to myself and the experiencing going on in me, and the more I try to extend that same listening attitude to another person, the more respect I feel for the complex processes of life. SO I become less and less inclined to hurry to fix things, to set goals, to mold people, to manipulate and push them in the way that I would like them to go. I am much more content simply to be myself and to let another person be himself.
Carl Rogers
Inner listening leads to outer acceptance. When we are at peace with our own complex processes, we stop needing to control the processes of others.
Don’t underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.
A. A. Milne
In a world obsessed with doing, the revolutionary act is to simply be, and to be attentive to the subtle wisdom that only emerges in idleness.
Listening to the story of ‘what is’ brings its own liberation. It is truth that liberates, not the effort to be free.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Stop struggling against what is. Simply listen to it. Observe your anger, your jealousy, your joy, without judgment. Stop striving – and you will be set free!
Read more: 55 Self-discovery Quotes – Know Thyself
Spiritual & Philosophical Quotes about Listening
Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.
Karl Menninger
Being heard doesn’t just feel good; it calls our truest self into being, giving it the space and safety to emerge.
Listen widely to remove your doubts and be careful when speaking about the rest and your mistakes will be few.
Confucius
Gather information from many sources to establish a solid foundation of understanding. Then, speak from that place of clarity, and do so sparingly. This is the path to wisdom.
The quieter you become, the more you can hear.
Ram Dass
Quieting external noise lets you hear the birds. Quieting your internal monologue lets you hear another person. And ultimately, quieting your ego lets you hear the divine.
If you would listen, sir, in the sense of being aware of your conflicts and contradictions without forcing them into any particular pattern of thought, perhaps they might altogether cease.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Stop trying to “solve” your inner conflicts. Just observe them with detached attention, and they may simply run out of fuel.
It was in the silence that I heard Your voice.
Father Rodrigues, “Silence” (2016)
Indeed. Faith isn’t found in the noise of doctrine or prayer, but in the agonizing, seemingly empty silence where a different kind of presence is found.
Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
James 1:19
Priority on Input + Prudence in Output + Emotional Regulation. That is the formula of social harmony, peace and wisdom.
All the wonders of life are already here. They’re calling you. If you can listen to them, you will be able to stop running. What you need, what we all need, is silence. Stop the noise in your mind in order for the wondrous sounds of life to be heard. Then you can begin to live your life authentically and deeply.
Thich Nhat Hanh
We are running, searching for something wonderful. But it’s here now. The call of a bird, the sound of the wind. It’s just hidden behind the static of our own thoughts.
Read more: 100 Happy Life Quotes to Illuminate the Day & Warm the Soul
Funny Quotes about Listening
If we were meant to talk more than listen, we would have two mouths and one ear.
Mark Twain
Twain’s folksy wit states Zeno’s classical point perfectly. The anatomical evidence is clear: our design favors reception.
A good listener is not someone with nothing to say. A good listener is a good talker with a sore throat.
Katharine Whitehorn
Often, the best listeners are those who love to talk, but have learned the grace (or been forced by circumstance) to be quiet.
One advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least somebody’s listening.
Franklin P. Jones
A funny, cynical jab at the state of our conversations. Though, perhaps, it also points to the importance of being our own good listener.
Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble.
Frank Tyger
It’s the mouth that says the wrong thing, insults an ally, or reveals a secret. The ears are agents of intelligence, not of chaos.
If you don’t know, lean on a column and listen.
Vietnamese Proverb
Assume a posture of humility and stillness. The knowledge will come to you.
Debate as if you’re right but listen in case you’re wrong.
Frank Sonnenberg
This is the perfect balance. The combination of conviction and humility is the antidote to dogmatism – and the key to genuine intellectual progress.
Final Thoughts
As you may have seen, true listening is not a technique, but a way of being. It’s the difference between merely collecting information and truly connecting with another person.
The path from hearing to understanding is a daily practice. It’s the courageous choice to be present, to set aside our ego, and to be willing to be changed by what we learn.
It is in this quiet, humble space that empathy is born, relationships are healed, and love is made tangible.
And perhaps most importantly, as we train our ear to listen with compassion to others, we also learn to listen to ourselves – to the wisdom of our own bodies, the whispers of our intuition, and the truth of our own hearts.
May we have the patience to be silent. May we always offer the simple gift of our full attention. And in that quiet, may we find the understanding we all long for!
Other resources you may be interested in:
- 40 Life Coaching Quotes: Wisdom for Levelling Up Your Life
- 140 Introvert Quotes: Embrace Your Quiet Strength
- 140 Uncertainty Quotes: Finding Peace in the “Not Knowing”
- 85 Critical Thinking Quotes: On the Courage to Question
- 101 Positive Thinking Quotes: Kindle Your Inner Light
Let’s Tread the Path Together, Shall We?
